thatotheramber's reviews
692 reviews

The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Once again this book is hard to rate because I greatly disliked the narrator. He had all the enthusiasm of soup on a muggy Southern summer night. The story itself was better than the previous book as it stayed more focussed on a central plot and didn't have too many side quests all going on at once. I also liked FINALLY getting a Nico POV.  It was a nice conclusion to this series and wrapped up the storyline nicely. 

When Love Gives You Lemons by Steven Salvatore

lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

To be entirely honest, this book took a little bit to pull me in. I was NOT a fan of the fourth wall break at all. It made the book feel awkward and I came very close to DNFing before the first chapter was even done. Thankfully I stuck it out and ended up more or less enjoying the book. Every time the fourth wall broke, I was pulled out of the story, but otherwise the plot flowed fairly well. I found it hard to root for Ricky and Fielder given that Ricky was in a relationship throughout most of the story.

Even once Cam was shown to be cheating, I still couldn't give Ricky a free pass when he was still dragging Cam along.

I also got super annoying by all the mentions of "Clock" when referencing TikTok. Normally social media references don't bug me, but this did largely because of the annoying nickname and partially because it was so excessive. 

That all said, I did like the story. It also made some really good points about queer relationships and some important conversions were had. I liked that there was a focus on learning to love yourself and seek out what you need outside of a relationship. There were also lots of sweet moments between the two MCs. I also liked the side characters and felt they rounded out the story well. This definitely wasn't a perfect fit for me, but Steven Salvatore will remain one of my go-to authors. 

Onyx by Jennifer L. Armentrout

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A Restless Truth by Freya Marske

hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The Sin Eater by Onley James

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Much better than the previous book. The plot was stronger and more coherent without taking any focus off the romance. 

Last Chance to Save the World by Beth Revis

adventurous fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Great continuation to the series.

The House of Hades by Rick Riordan

adventurous slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book moved soooo slowly. It tried to do too much and follow too many people. Parts felt needlessly drawn out and made it hard to stay invested.

The worst part of this book for me, however, was the narrator. He read the exposition with all the enthusiasm of reading a dictionary and his accents were a little off. It made it very difficult to stay focused on the story and my mind kept wandering, bored by his tone. 

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The Bone Collector by Onley James

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

To start with, parts of this felt very fetishy. Like awkwardly so. I nearly put the book down, but thankfully it calmed down a bit once the plot moved beyond Park thirsting over Gift's cheeks. The age gap was also a little weird with how young and innocent Park was made out to be despite his age. Leaning into the innocent virgin was a bit much. 

No one reads Onley James so sweet, chaste moments, but the sex in this book went... on... forever. I honestly found myself skimming here and there because it got boring. 

The plot outside of the sex was interesting and I wanted a little more balance between the actual plot and the sex. One of the plot point seemed almost tossed aside and then was hurriedly summed up in the epilogue. Honestly, it felt rushed and underdeveloped.

Also, can we please stop with the Harry Potter references? Even in passing, STOP.

All that to say, this particular spin-off world is intriguing and I'm potentially interested in checking out additional books in the series.